Though she didn't portray a specific Black character while wearing blackface, it was still a bizarre scene that was part of the pro-slave holding southern propaganda infused throughout the film. The previous review of this movie begins with the question "Can you get past the racism of the era? But you MUST ease the public into is and let them get used to it a little at time or else risk them shutting progress out altogether. Everyone is captured and the officers are to be executed. To be honest, in this film, the racism is so pervasive that I can't get past it. I almost believe Shirley could end a war single-handed. Her costuming adventures are chronicled on her website, TrystanCraft. "The Littlest Rebel" (1935) is one of many films that features slaves who are unhappy to be set free. | That's the big question here. They weren’t great times for the US by diminishing sectors of the population (not just blacks, but any ethic group), but that was the reality and trying portray it as something different is a disservice to people and history. When tears finally fly, it's hard to not want to reach through the screen and comfort her, especially when she is pleading her case to President Lincoln. Was there ever such a talented little kid as Shirley Temple? In Colonel, this was the first interracial dance pairing on film in the U.S., and the two would dance together in a total of four films. I am afraid I can’t forgive Shirley Temple for those curls. While some accused him of playing a simple Uncle Tom character, I agree with Robinson’s own opinion that his characters in the Shirley Temple films have agency and are father figures. She could act, sing, dance and steal scenes with the best of them. I had to suffer through my mom giving me Tonette perms in the ’50s. © Copyright 2007-2020 Frock Flicks, Trystan L. Bass, Kendra Van Cleave, & Sarah Lorraine Goodman. Why, it sounds like singing! If you own the rights to content here and wish it removed, please contact us. It is extremely sympathetic toward the Confederate side of the Civil War but the eternal charm that Shirley Temple gives in each of her movies can't help being repressed. | Featured Products TCM Annual Catalog: 2019 Edition. Even Lincoln is said to have the orchestra playing "Dixie" as he stood there on the balcony receiving the praise of the people for the victory. Virgie goes into blackface… That song gets misattributed to Robinson, but it was actually about a hobo street performer & doesn’t describe Robinson at all (he performed in top hat & tails, for example). | Posted by 9 months ago. Such as the overwhelming racism in The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel (1935). The Littlest Rebel is a good Shirley Temple picture. But seeing Robinson and Temple dance on screen is still magic. Watch the movie as it was intended and you might even enjoy it. There are scenes where at least three different adult males are nestling so closely face to face with the little girl that it is CREEPY. Shirley Temple in Blackface, from “The Littlest Rebel” (1935). Learn how your comment data is processed. Yeah, they are products of their times and must be viewed critically. Directed by David Butler. User Ratings TagsAmerican Civil Wardance dance revolutionearly days of Hollywoodrace issues in historyshaddup i love musicalsshirley templeslavery, A self-described ElderGoth, Trystan has been haunting the internet since the early 1990s. What movies like Littlest Colonel did was start to crack the ice. It came out after he had died, & I’ve read that Shirley Temple was annoyed by the song since it reflected poorly on her old friend. i was about to post the same thing. As an opera singer, I constantly find productions of The Magic Flute that attempt to find a way around the story’s inherent sexism and racism. Maybe it’s time a film biopic addressed his influence on America culture. "The Littlest Rebel" is one of the shorter Shirley Temple features, but it feels like one of the longest. Herbert Carey discharges the Dudley brothers, Joe and Jim, from their positions as overseers on his plantation and thereby incurs their enmity. I think what makes him so sexy and unique is that mustache. That Touch of Mink DVD $14.96 The Ghost And Mrs. Muir DVD $11.21 Forbidden Hollywood: The Pre-Code Era (1930-1934): When Sin Ruled the Movies Book $22.95 9. The best scenes of Bojangles are the dance numbers, including a memorable duplication by Hines of a filmed dance by Robinson using an up-and-down set of stairs in which Hines’ step dance is repeated with the film of Robinson’s, side by side.” <– so maybe we’re thinking of the same thing? He started talking about his dog, which made everyone sad, and someone asked for something to lighten the mood. It’s a miracle the fumes didn’t kill me. I love John Boles. A quick plunge right into everything being racially equal would have resulted in more push-back than there was. He was a great dancer, and great humanitarian. The generals from each side wade out to meet her and carry little Shirley off on their shoulders to the White House where an oddly blond-bearded Abe Lincoln asks her help in ending the war, reconstructing the south, appeasing the slaves, preventing his own assasination, working things out with Mary, and sobering up Grant. Absolutely false. The depiction of blacks is embarrassing, particularly Best as a mentally challenged slave, a character meant to be funny. From the very start of the film, the racism in the way the Negroes (the term primarily used in 1935 American life) were portrayed is deplorable. Shirley Temple's father, a rebel officer, sneaks back to his rundown plantation to see his family and is arrested. War is declared and Carey, after bidding his wife and daughter Virgie farewell, joins the Southern forces, the Dudleys joining the Northern. Directed by Edgar Lewis. I just finished watching this film with my 7 year old daughter and I am utterly astonished at this young girls gifts. It seemed to me that she had no racial biases but it was a modern made piece. But seeing her playing besides John, makes it even better. But I remember a Temple two-part biopic showing a young Shirley Temple meeting Mr Robinson for the first time. I hope this was not the case. Thank you for clarifying that. Many of these had historical settings, another fave. It's as though she truly believes it herself and cannot contain her emotions. It made me cry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bojangles_(film), http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1639645465. When I studied film in college (as the only non-theater major), I remember seeing “Birth of a Nation.” While the themes were, of course, heinous, what I could appreciate was that most of the film techniques in that movie had never been done before. This film says more about North America in the 1930's than it does about the Deep South in the 1860's. I also appreciate the black pioneers on film like Bill Robinson, Lena Horne, Hattie McDaniel, Paul Robeson, and the others who shouldered those burdens to give us Denzel Washington, Hallie Berry, Idris Elba, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson and the rest. A whole new generation of our family now enjoys the movie. She also ran a popular fashion blog, This Is CorpGoth, dedicated to her “office drag.”. The acting of the adults is pretty bad, not helped by the corny script, awful dialog, and characters that don't resemble real people. And tap dancing! DISCLAIMER: Frock Flicks claims no credit for images featured on this site unless noted. The thing which is racist about the film is not that it sets out to show anything evil about the black people - Shirley seems to be quite fond of her slaves, unless of course they do something wrong - but in the subtle way it suggests there was nothing wrong with the situation the Deep South was in before the civil war. The films The Littlest Rebel (1935), Show Boat (1936), and Gone with the Wind (1939) continued to show African Americans in roles as butlers, drivers, laborers, maids, and mammies. The performer gave the false name Bo Jangles to conceal his identity, which was allowed in those days. Be sure to have your nitroglycerine tablets and defibrullator handy when you watch this one!. | The sets are well done, the acting ranges from acceptable to very good, the dancing sequence iconic, and the plot is as realistic as any fantasy can be. Archived. So the man danced a jig. Roy Acuff, country music singer, performed in blackface in 1930s-40s traveling medicine shows; Julie Andrews, in the 1964 film Mary Poppins; Anne of Denmark, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, in The Masque of Blackness; Fred Armisen, impersonating U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live in 2008 and 2009; Louis Armstrong, as Zulu King during 1949's Mardi Gras in New Orleans Heck. $4.52. Hollywood in the 1930’s is not entirely the same as it is today, although Blackface, Brownface, and Yellowface still occurs with alarming frequency. Co- starring Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, it's packed with throughly delightful musical numbers including Shirley's unforgettable version of "Polly Wolly Doodle". good story, suspense, heartwarming. Progress is often in small steps, and always slower than even the creators would like. Generations of dancers, black and white name Bo Jangles to conceal his,! Tastes and technology which was allowed in those days Littlest Rebel '' ( 1935.. 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